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Comment by collyw | Hacker News Reader

Is there any proper (peer reviewed) evidence that carbohydrates are bad?

Even if carbohydrates aren't bad, I prefer foods that are low in them when possible because other foods have disproportionate amounts. Eating a low-carb protein allows you to eat a cookie later and still hit your macro targets.

Carbohydrates in excessive amounts, yes. Meats and cheeses are basically the last bastions of non carb-laden foods. Pretty much everything that's not "diet" or meat/cheese is jam packed with carbs for flavor/cost cutting/fat reduction.

And there's plenty of evidence that this is a bad thing.

Plenty of low-carb things that aren't meat and cheese. Avocados, nuts, etc.

Ive been an atkins follower for... 20 years. I eat mostly meat. The few things I indulge in other than meat are mama lupe low carb tortillas, blue diamond almonds almost all flavors, and some veg like cauliflower because its LC. And cheese. I am a cheese addict. :/ Other than that I don't touch anything from a grocery store. I do make paneer cheese and butter from raw milk I get from a sweet lady that has a small farm 30 minutes from here. Love paneer! And let me tell you if you have NEVER had butter made from RAW MILK by hand your missing out. That garbage in the store called "butter" will seriously make you rethink what the EFF you are eating if you taste raw milk butter you make yourself. It's not a subtle "eh I can kind of tell the difference." Its more of a "HOLY SH!@# What the @#!$ have I been eating?!?!" moment.

Yes, everything is bad if taken excessively. I am asking is there any evidence that "normal" levels of carbs are especially bad?

Normal today or normal 200 years ago? Eating non-processed food is difficult for a large segment of the population of the US and many other parts of the world. Processed foods have drastically change our nutritional intake balances of the years. So 'normal' is something that should be defined.

Sure, but I am asking if thee is anything specific about carbohydrates that should be avoided (unprocessed or otherwise).

Lots of people replying, no one answering my question.

No, just like there is nothing wrong with lead in safe amounts.

It's a tautology and you're trying to remove your question from the context of the reality in which the statement was made.

There are no safe levels of lead. Quite literally no one has ever found a lower bound on its toxicity.

Absolutely not! There is no safe amount of lead!

> Carbohydrates in excessive amounts, yes.

That's the definition of 'excessive', yes.

Right, and that's why someone might be interested in not shifting to fake meats that have carbohydrates.

Probably good to stay away from processed food in general, and worry about carbs second.

Fruits and vegetables will take you far. If it doesn't taste good to you, put some salt on it.

There's plenty of vegetables that aren't loaded with starch, especially the really bad sorts of starch. In fact I can only name a few that are that bad for you. Russet potatos, mostly.

There are a lot of pretty sugary fruits, even after you account for fiber.

Sugar specifically is showing signs of being incredibly bad for you and yet is added to most of the "diet foods" instead of fat (which is showing signs of being less bad for you then people say).

I don't have the studies handy, and you can find studies that say either way.

But carbohydrates as a whole?

I think it was on here I read an article by a doctor who's general rule was keep your food as unprocessed as possible.

I haven't seen any evidence of carbs in general being evil no. Just lots of the common sources of them in our modern diets.

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